Jeff Biggers
Author of "The United States of Appalachia," www.jeffbiggers.com

All candidates in Chicago's mayoral race have one thing in common: Like millions of afflicted Chicago residents, they're all breathing the same cankered air from the city's two infamous Model-T-era coal-fired plants.

And this Sunday, as millions of citizens from around the world take part in the Global Work Party for climate solutions, the Chicago mayoral candidates will have a chance to join their own constituents in Chicago's race for clean air and water.

According to a recent Clean Air Task Force study, Chicago ranks as one of the worst cities in the US for power plant mortality and health care problems. Nationwide, last month's CAFT study found that 13,200 premature deaths and $100 billion in additional health care costs are attributable to coal-fired plants.

In an extraordinary show of support for Chicago's Clean Power Ordinance to transition away from the dirty coal-fired plants and launch green jobs, national environmental leaders converged this summer on the Windy City to join a growing number of aldermen, scores of citizens and environmental organizations, and concerned residents in making Chicago ground zero in the climate and clean energy movement.